Mr Wills
by raven-flighton
Summary: The New Directions have a new director and a mysterious new freshman in their ranks. Planned Cartwills in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**

**Just some quick context notes. On the glee side of things, this is very AU, I'm thinking the glee club from season 3 but Sue is Headteacher and Will has left for some reason. (In my head it's for April's show, which has actually been semi-successful enough for him to stay in New York City but really that's not relevant) In terms of Smash I'm sticking quite close to the canon, we're around sixteen years after the series finale. Hopefully everything else will become clear within the story.**

"And why, exactly, should I hire you, Mr Wills?" the tall blonde woman eyed him sceptically, lounging behind her desk "You clearly have no place teaching high school students, apart from the sexual assault charges laid against you and your world renown for being a truly repugnant human being, I am suspicious of anyone whose hair is that colour, I mean is it black? Is it brown? Who knows?"

Derek matched her icy stare "Ms Sylvester, you and I both know that there is no-one more qualified to take this position."

"There may even be a little bit of grey in there," she squinted at his hair a moment and then stood "You, if anything are over-qualified, English, I mean you're equipped with Tony Award, Drama Desk Awards, Olivier Awards, your trophy cabinet is probably nearly as well-endowed as mine however real-life experiences do not make a teacher. Those who can't do, teach, and you most clearly can do, therefore you cannot teach."

Nodding slowly, the director smiled "I presume you are the exception, on that score."

"Ah, you're catching on," she smirked "So why do you want to teach English and Drama in a second-rate high-school with a glee club that deserves to rot in a sound-proofed hole."

With a sigh, Derek stood so that he was almost eye-level with her "My daughter starts here in September, I will not have her attending a school with no theatre or arts opportunities."

"So send her to Carmel High!" Sue's pitch heightened with an outraged tone of surprise.

Derek wasn't having any of it, he'd spent his life dealing with people much scarier than Sue Sylvester and he hadn't flinched yet "She's not on Broadway yet, I want her to go to a normal school but that doesn't mean I want her to be a philistine, the arts are an essential part of the education system and I will teach them all for free alongside the English, you pay me for. It's a golden offer, Sue, don't deny it."

"We're not on first name terms, yet, Mr Wills," she said sharply and then gradually lowered herself back into her seat "But I think I will enjoy having you as a sparring partner." Offering her hand, she smiled "Welcome to the team, _Derek_."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Rachel Berry was outraged. Well, she usually was, about something. Today, however, she was particularly outraged. She was being made to re-audition for glee club. This was her senior year, she had been co-captain for two years, asking her to re-audition was downright insulting. She was bristling with fury. In fact, at the moment in question, she was expressing said-fury to the rest of the glee club who, with the help of Finn, she had gathered in the choir room for an emergency meeting.

Sighing, Kurt stopped her "Rachel, it's honestly not that big a deal."

"Yeah, I might be a little offended if Mr Schu had made us re-audition but Mr Schuster's gone," Mercedes added "This is a new director, he doesn't know us, he wants to see what we can do."

Haughtily, Rachel folded her arms "He should trust Mr Schu's artistic integrity."

"I agree with Rachel," Finn said quickly. The rest of the club shared looks of mixed irritation and fondness. All the same, he launched himself to his feet to stand by Rachel. With his usual dazed expression, he continued "Who made this guy our new coach anyway? Shouldn't we have had a vote or something?"

Artie narrowed his eyes, glancing at the others "Last time I checked, the American school system isn't a democracy."

"If it was, you and Lumps here would never be elected," Santana pointed out.

With a sigh, Kurt stood "Look, Rachel, just look at it as another opportunity to perform. Or another glee club assignment, if you're so against auditioning. It's a good one, a song that represents you."

Rachel couldn't help but agree, it would have made a good assignment. So, despite still being annoyed, she let it go and threw herself into preparation for the auditions. There was a certain thrill about auditioning for something. Picking the song, deciding the outfit, the anticipation that filled her every waking moment. When the day came, she was buzzing, practically bouncing beside Finn in the hall all morning. Then, in the afternoon, she was concerned with careful preparations so, by four, she was totally ready to audition again.

The auditorium doors were locked.

The auditorium doors were never locked but, on audition day, they were locked. The whole glee club was crowded outside. Blaine was there too, having transferred at the beginning of the year and there was also a blonde freshman that Rachel didn't recognize. At present, however, all Rachel was really concerned with, was why the doors were closed. She was just about to go and fetch the janitor to open it when a man swung it open from the inside.

He was wearing a black shirt and equally black jeans. His eye was critical, his hair a practised sort of unkempt. The man was intimidating to say the least. As soon as he set eyes on them, they all fell silent. First impressions would suggest that he was the exact opposite of Mr Schuster and yet, this was the man who had taken his place.

"Are you my auditionees?" the man asked even though, Rachel was sure, he knew the answer. His accent was British. What could bring a Brit to Ohio?

Stepping forward, Finn answered "Yeah, I'm-"

"No introductions from you, I'm sure I'll get to know you as we go on. I'm Mr Wills, your new choir director. I want you all to take a seat in the auditorium, I'll call you up one at a time, to introduce yourselves and sing." Then, he moved aside and held the door for them. Heads down, they filed passed and did as instructed. Rachel didn't like him much but at least he seemed like he'd get things done.

It was alphabetical, meaning Artie was up first, performing his signature: _Dancing With Myself_. Then Blaine performed _Cough Syrup_, which Rachel thought was a little grim as an audition song but it was, nevertheless, well executed.

Once he'd finished, Mr Wills leant forward into his microphone – he was sat at the director's table – and said "Very nice, Blaine, next up is Miss Rachel Berry."

She stood, smiling at Blaine as he took his seat beside Kurt. After much deliberation, Rachel had decided to stick with the song she performed best, the one that had won them sectionals, the song that would be her audition for NYADA. Taking the stage, she said "I'm Rachel and I think the song that represents me is Don't Rain on My Parade, from Funny Girl."

"Interesting, why?" Mr Wills asked. He hadn't asked anyone else anything like that.

A little shaken, she replied "Because it's _my _song."

"Really, I was given the impression it belonged to Jule Styne or perhaps Barbra Streisand," he quipped.

Rachel felt the heat of irritation and embarrassment rise within her. Why was he picking on her? There was a low sound of chuckling from the direction of her peers. They loved this. It wasn't fair. Curtly, she said "May I sing now?"

With a sigh, Mr Wills replied "Go ahead Rachel."

Of course, Rachel nailed it, she always did. This time, though, she was possessed with the fierceness of adversity. She wanted to prove him wrong, this was _her_ song, it didn't matter what he said. When she hit that final note, she felt a rush of pride and achievement was over her. Snapping her gaze to her new teacher, she said "Thank you, for your time."

"No, thank you, Miss Berry," Mr Wills replied, a hint of humour tainting what might have been a compliment. The rest of the auditions went smoothly up until the director called "Miss Olivia Lynn."

The blonde freshman stood and hurried down to the stage. She was small, about Rachel's size but with soft blonde hair resting on her shoulders. Truth be told, though, she was stunning, even at fifteen. Most freshman were spotty and shy but this girl walked with a quiet confidence.

"Hi, I'm Jess and I'll be singing Astonishing from the musical adaptation of Little Women. It's the second half of the song that applies to me, the first part is more to do with plot and-"

Mr Wills held up a hand to stop her "I understand, Miss Lynn, just sing the song."

And boy did she sing it. Every note was hit with passion and precision, every emotion expressed. It was textbook and beautiful to watch her. The auditorium, near-empty as it was, was captivated by her. When she hit the final note, all was still.

"Thank you, Olivia," Mr Wills said, breaking the silence. With a short nod, she hurried back to her seat, all of the glee club watching her, stunned. Rachel could feel a familiar prickle of jealousy crawling up her spine.

At the end of the auditions, Mr Wills took to the stage "Good news, you're all in. Now look, I realise you were very fond of your old choir director. Principle Sylvester filled me in on that score. I don't know how he ran things but I can assure you that I am not him. I will run things my way and I will get you to nationals. From what I've seen, you're all very talented, much more than the average show choir, I can tell you that. There is no reason you shouldn't win nationals this year, in fact, why you haven't already won is beyond me. So, we start full rehearsals on Monday. Dismissed." With that, he was gone, disappearing off into the wings to who knows where.

The New Directions sat in shock for a few moments. Then Mercedes said "Well, he's different."

"You might call it that," Kurt added.

Santana stood and faced the lot of them "Well I think he'll be good for us, he seems to know what he wants and winning nationals doesn't seem like that bad an idea."

"Well he seemed a little conservative to me," Finn commented, squeezing Rachel's hand gently. He was trying to tell her that he supported her irritation at the way Mr Wills had questioned her song choice.

Fondly, Rachel corrected "Conceited Finn, and I agree."

"You're only saying that because he didn't fall at your feet when you started to sing," Kurt pointed out, glancing sideways at Mercedes.

Puck, who had somehow ended up sat next to the blonde freshman, turned to the girl "What do you think about it blondie?" Rachel bristled a little, what did it matter what the new girl thought?

Looking appropriately surprised, Olivia stood "I er, I think we should give him a chance."

"What did you say your name was?" asked Blaine, leaning forward a little. It was quite possible he was just trying to be nice but the result was something akin to fear crossing the girl's face. So, Rachel concluded, it was only in performing she was secure. Seeing he'd scared her, Blaine added "It's all right, I'm Blaine, I'm new too."

With a nervous smile, she replied "Olivia, Olivia Lynn. I've got to go meet my dad." Olivia hurried off, head down.

Once Olivia was out of earshot, Mercedes commented "She seems sweet."

"Yeah, and she can sing like hell," Artie said.

Subduing her anger and jealousy, Rachel stood "We should go, I don't want my dads to worry, come on Finn." They all agreed and, with mumbled goodbyes, left the auditorium.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The air felt cooling to Olivia's lungs as she wandered out of the school gates. She'd got through it, the first audition, dealt with the questions of her fellow glee clubbers, she might be able to make this work. As planned, she found her dad's car waiting around the corner, far enough away that no-one would see her climb in. Nervously, she still glanced round before getting in.

"So, what's the verdict?" Derek smirked at her, from the driver's seat "I know they'll have been talking about me after I left."

Throwing her bag in the back seat, Olivia replied "They've decided to give you a chance, that's all that matters." She wasn't entirely sure that was true but it didn't really matter anyway.

"Well, that's something," Derek laughed as he pulled out into the street "You know, I'm still not sure you need to lie about me being your father."

With a shrug, she pointed out "I'm going to be doing it my whole life, I may as well start now."

Exasperated, Derek began "Livvie..."

"Dad, I want a career on Broadway but I don't want to spend that career being known as Derek Wills's daughter," Olivia had lost count of the amount of times she'd had this conversation.

Gripping the wheel a little tighter, he said "No, you'll use your mother's name and be known as Ivy Lynn's daughter. I've been out of the game for a long time, no-one will make the connection between you and I, your mother is still working."

"But Wills is a show-business family name. Charles Wills, Derek Wills, I don't want to compete with that. At least Lynn is only connected to Mom," Olivia leant back in the seat, folding her arms stubbornly. She would never understand why he was so sensitive about this, what she chose to call herself was her business. As the silence settled between them, she caught her reflection in the side mirror and sighed "Besides, anyone could see I'm Ivy Lynn's daughter." It was true, Olivia was the spitting image of Ivy, though Derek liked to say that, when she scowled, she looked exactly like him.

It was odd, because Olivia had never felt like Ivy's daughter. Derek was the one who'd raised her, the one who brushed her hair and walked her to school. When their relationship broke down, Ivy had wanted to carry on with her career and Derek had wanted to be a father. Maybe it was that, after Bombshell and Hitlist, he'd wanted to make a fresh start and Olivia was the best way to start again. Plus, he was financially able then, not to work for a bit, apart from writing a regular theatre column in the Times. Not that Ivy wasn't in her life, because she was, whenever she could and she never missed a birthday, always came down for Christmas. It was just that Derek was there for the day to day, while Ivy was only there when she needed to be. Living in different states didn't help.

Olivia had a computer, she knew about Derek's past and his reputation, no matter how often he told her not to google him. They didn't have a lot of secrets, exactly, but she was aware that he didn't want her to now about the man he was before. He wasn't that man anymore.

"So, what's the plan on Monday?" Olivia asked, bringing herself out of her thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, Derek replied "Well we need to breach the small matter of the school musical, for a start. The last choir director was looking into the rights for West Side Story but I don't feel like directing something that hasn't been fresh for fifty years. It's a good show but it's vastly overdone, it does nothing for me."

"What so you want to do something new?" Olivia pouted thoughtfully.

With a nod, Derek eyed his daughter, cautiously "I was actually thinking about getting the kids to choose. You know, they pitch an idea and then we have a vote."

"Really, _you _are doing this democratically?" she giggled. Derek had been running junior drama groups and amateur theatre all Olivia's life and he was in no way a utilitarian.

Good-naturedly, he laughed "In all honestly, I'm out of ideas and I want to see what they come up with."

"Well I know what show I'm going to pitch," she smiled.

Smirking once more, he raised an eyebrow "Oh yeah, and what would that be?"

"That would be telling."

**A/N**

**So, what do you think? I'm thinking of slipping in a love interest soon so comment and say what boy you might like to see Olivia with. Current contenders in my head: Puck (he's always liked blondes) Jesse St James (I may have to play around with the canon here because he's a bit old for her) Jimmy and Karen's, yet to be introduced, son (but since I may also have Cartwills this may be a little bit weird). I am open to other suggestions so thrill me, maybe even no love interest, though protective Derek may be too tempting for me not to include.**

**Also, I feel like up until now I haven't been very Rachel-friendly so far but I am hoping to rectify that in later chapters.**

**Sorry, talking too much, hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**

**Thanks for the reviews, or rather, review. Sorry it's taken me so long to update, if you get pissed just drop in a review and prompt me. No suggestions as yet as to love interests but I'd still like some thoughts on options if you've got them. For the purposes of this story, Jesse is currently a senior in high school. I think it's time for Olivia to make some friends though, whatever happens, don't you?**

The glee club were all gathered in the choir room, awaiting their director. Olivia stumbled in late from history and all of them turned to look at her. A ripple of embarrassment shook through her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rachel straighten up a little.

There were very few seats free, the front row was especially full. Olivia would guess that those who'd placed themselves on the front row were vying for solos, they wanted to be noticed. Suppressing a smirk, Olivia realised that she didn't need to be noticed. She must have stood awkwardly in the doorway for too long however because Santana called "What are you waiting for, do you need an invitation?"

Heat rushed to Olivia's cheeks.

Good-naturedly, Blaine gestured to the seat beside him "There's a space next to me." With a grateful smile, she scurried to take her seat just as Derek entered the room.

He didn't speak as the room fell silent just walked to the back wall and scrawled _Contemporary__ Musical Theatre_ across the board. Then he slid it on its rails to the centre of the room. A couple of the boys groaned. Snapping round to face the class, Derek began "Careful of your preconceptions boys, this one is a very specific lesson. I understand your last choir director was looking at performing West Side Story for this year's musical-"

Standing, Rachel interrupted "Yes and I would like to inform you Mr Wills that I am the favourite to be cast as Maria on Jacob Ben Isreal's blog."

"That's very nice Miss Berry," Derek responded tersely "But irrelevant both because I'm unlikely to be influenced by a wannabe gossip columnist and because we are no longer doing West Side Story."

Slowly, sheepishly, Rachel lowered herself into her seat. The rest of the glee club either sniggered or leant forward shocked as Mercedes uttered "But why?"

"Well because I think it's overdone and I thought a bunch of creative high-school students might want to do something a little more this-century," Derek said, barely keeping his voice civil "So, I propose, you pitch me ideas for shows. Find a show, come and sing a song from it, I'll write it down on the board if it's a possibility and at the end of the week we'll take a vote. I have a few criteria, it must have been written in the last twenty years; that _is_ a must. Other things I want you to think about are how much it would cost to put on and how easy it would be with this cast because, although we can find people from elsewhere in school, it is easiest to take our cast from people in this room. Also, if at all possible, give me something different. I think a lot of you kids feel like theatre isn't for you and I say, whatever type of music you like there is a musical for you. So go and find that musical. Now, have any of you got anything to start us off Miss-"

Knowing that Olivia had advanced notice, he had been about to ask her to perform but Rachel's hand shot up before he could. With a sigh, he smiled "Miss Berry, why am I not surprised? All right, you're up."

They exchanged places, Rachel taking the floor and Derek choosing a seat on the back row, just behind Olivia. Rachel whispered something to Brad and then turned to the front and began "This is from one of my favourite new shows, well I mean, in our time frame. Gimmie Gimmie, from Thoroughly Modern Millie._A simple choice, nothing more_

_This or that, either or_

_Marry well, social whirl, business man, clever girl_

_Or pin my future on the boy I love..._" Her rendition of the song was more than impressive, it was downright stunning. More than her audition had, that performance of Gimmie Gimmie showed Olivia that Rachel Berry was a star. She hit every note, both musical and emotional, with such soul and surety. The girl may be sitting on the front row and constantly vying for attention but just because she was needy didn't make her untalented. Rachel Berry was a force to be reckoned with.

As they applauded, Derek stood again and said "Very nice, Miss Berry, I'll put Millie on the list." He wrote it down on the board but then turned to face them all again "That was a very good example but I want you guys who aren't as aware of musicals to know that they don't all sound like that. Have any of you ever heard of a show called Murder Ballad?"

Cautiously, Olivia raised her hand "I have."

"Very good Miss Lynn," Derek smirked, knowing that he had set her up for this "Do you think you could give us your Sara?"

Blushing, Olivia replied "Well, most of the songs in the show are... well the ones that best showcase the show are duets."

"All right," Derek scanned the club "Noah Puckerman, would you be willing to meet with Olivia and prepare the number with her?"

Frowning, Puck replied "Sure, why not?"

"Good, now go forth and explore," with that, Derek dismissed them and paced through to his office.

Santana leant back in her chair "Do you think he always exits like that?"

The glee club started to gather their things to leave, it was the end of the day after all, most of them wanted to get home. Derek would end up pretty popular if he kept letting them go early. Even Brad was leaving with a smile. Olivia still felt a little embarrassed, she presumed her father was trying to better integrate her into the group. It wasn't easy, especially when all of the other kids seemed to already know each other but Puck seemed an odd choice of friend… Though, she had to admit, he was right for Murder Ballad. Perhaps this was simply a matter of convenience.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice Puck until he was stood right beside her "Hey, it's Olivia isn't it?"

"Yeah," she started, offering her hand "Hi and you're Noah."

With a grin, he high fived her, rather than shaking her outstretched hand "Puck. You're kind of formal, aren't you?"

"Daddy didn't raise no savage," Olivia attempted to sound cheeky, she wasn't successful.

He nodded politely but then changed the subject "So what's this number we have to do?"

"Well, Mr Wills has only given us the show…" she began, digging her ipod from her bag "But I think I know the song I want to do. Is there an ipod dock in here?" He showed her where it was and she set it up, clumsily at first, then with quiet conviction. The rock chords of the introduction played out and Olivia stood by the speakers, awkwardly observing Puck's reaction.

As it hit the second verse, he pointed to the speakers "That's my part?"

"Yeah," she shrugged "It's a pretty short."

With a smile, he admitted "I like it."

Suddenly, Derek emerged from the office, holding bits of paper. He was trying to avoid looking at Olivia directly, scared he'd give something away so kept his head down as he walked towards them "I found you kids the sheet music."

Puck took the music and grinned "Great, thanks Mr Wills."

"You're welcome, I'll be in the office, if you need me."

As Derek disappeared again, Puck admitted "I don't know what to think about him."

"What do you mean?" Olivia asked, suddenly nervous of what he would say. After all, Derek was her father and she didn't really want to have to keep the dressing room gossip from him.

With a shrug, Puck sat down on the piano stool "I guess he's just different to Mr Schu, I mean he was so… orthodox I guess. Anyway, let's run the number, shall we?"

Feeling somewhat relieved, she watched as he picked up his guitar and played the opening chords. "I thought I'd start across the room."

"Just sing."

"Right," she smiled awkwardly and then began "A kiss like a mouth tattoo…"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Derek found his daughter in the basement that night, running ballet positions at the bar. Their house was large enough that they could devote the basement to studio space. Almost as soon as they moved in, Derek had installed the bar, the floor and the mirrors. This was the room in which Olivia had learnt to dance, he'd pointed her feet as a baby and taught her movement almost as soon as she could walk. Although he would never be able to teach her singing or give her real acting lessons, he knew he was more than capable of teaching her how to dance and she had thrived under his careful instruction.

"Don't crook your elbow, curve it," Derek said softly.

Olivia smiled, a shadow of his signature smirk "I know, I just wanted to see if you were paying attention."

"Of course you did," he laughed dryly "How did rehearsal with Puckerman go?"

Rolling her eyes, she replied "Like you weren't watching from the office." With another laugh, he shook his head. There was no doubting that Olivia knew him well. It was probably because they were so self-contained, the two them. They moved around a lot, they went through a lot but they always did it together. She was his best friend. As he pulled up one of the black chairs they kept around, she turned to him "Did you like my blocking?"

"You certainly inherited my eye," he said through his smirk "Though it should probably have more sex."

She quirked an eyebrow "You're my father."

"I am aware," he leant forward a little "And I'd really like to see you in princess dresses and tutus your entire career but _realistically _that's not happening, I'm going to have to come to terms with you wanting to work in theatre and that means, eventually, you're going to have to be sexy for an audience. Of course, the actual sex I don't have to come to terms with."

Laughing then, she turned to him "I don't know if I'm ready to even play sexy yet."

"That's okay," Derek smiled "But just know that I'm ready when you are."

With an irritated groan, she commented "I'm the only teenage girl in America who can have the sex talk without actually having the sex talk. Look, Dad, can you teach me the opening combination from a Chorus Line because I've always wanted to be able to do it and-"

"Sure darling, go put the music on," he stood, with a sigh. More than once, Olivia had suggested he open a dance and drama school but, honestly, he couldn't do more than run a couple of amateur groups. Derek Wills was not as young as he used to be and keeping up with Olivia was more than enough for him. These were old combinations-muscle memory, he'd been a choreographer's assistant on a production of a Chorus Line in his teens, you didn't just forget one of the most iconic dance combinations in history but he wasn't as capable of doing them as he was then.

Olivia, however, shone as she moved into each step. This girl was talented.

Suddenly, as she hit the first touch, there was a knock at the door. Glancing back, Derek told her "Keep running that, I'll get the door."

The man at the door was tall, with a short crop of curly brown hair. He must have been a senior in high school, maybe a little older.

"Jesse St James," the man offered his hand "Senior Assistant Coach and star of Vocal Adrenaline, Miss Corcoran sent me to offer her congratulations on your new post as coach of the New Directions, as your main regional rivals we are extending the hand of friendship early this year to avoid any unpleasantness nearer competition season."

Skeptical even as he did it, Derek shook the boy's hand "I appreciate that but I'm afraid I can't control what my students do outside our rehearsal space-"

"Oh, I am well aware of that but I'd appreciate it if you let Rachel and Finn know that we have an agreement," Jesse replied.

With a frown, Derek asked "Why does that girl seem to think she runs the glee club?"

"Rachel?" Jesse smirked "Well she is their captain, in every sense, she's their star."

Just as Derek was about to comment again, Olivia appeared in the hall, still in her dance clothes. A sudden need to protect his little girl washed over him, something about Jesse felt a little off. Nevertheless, she was walking towards them both with her own brand of quiet confidence "Dad?"

"Olivia, this is the Student Coach of Vocal Adrenaline, Jesse St James," Derek said, laying a protective hand on her arm.

With a chuckle, she shook Jesse's hand "So you're their Rachel?"

"I resent that!" Derek exclaimed, good-naturedly.

Eyeing her up, Jesse chuckled "Olivia. You look like a little star-in-the-making, if ever I saw one."

"She's no star in the making," Derek replied "She's already a star." Beside him, he felt her look up at him, questioning. The little blonde could see he was posturing to Jesse, not marking his territory exactly but setting a boundary. He needed the boy to back off.

Darkly, Jesse changed the subject "So, do we have an agreement?"

"Mr St James," Olivia began, stepping out of her father's arms and towards the boy at the door "May I suggest that, if you want the respect, co-operation and good behavior of the New Directions, you provide the same from Vocal Adrenaline. In the long rivalry between our choirs, when have we ever made the first move? What I'm basically saying is, we don't play dirty but you shoot first, maybe we'll shoot back." Then, with a sweet smile, she shut the door and said "Goodbye." She rolled her eyes and turned back towards Derek, seeing the look of confused amazement on his face "What?"

Shaking his head, he laughed "I guess I forgot that you didn't need protecting."

"Some days I do," she shrugged and then headed back to the dance studio. They may know each other very well, but Derek found his little girl could always surprise her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Thank you, Mr Anderson, we'll put _Next to Normal_ on the list, though I'm not sure how appropriate it is to a group of teenagers," Derek said as Blaine went back to his seat, beside Kurt. Olivia could feel the promise of fear bubbling up within her as her father looked her way. Although she and Puck had been practising all week, Olivia wasn't entirely sure she was ready to perform. Rock wasn't a genre she was as comfortable in as she was in others, it was harder to fall back on technique and still get the correct sound. Nevertheless, Derek called them up and she took her place.

She swallowed her fear because the character wouldn't be afraid. Olivia was afraid but Sara wasn't so she waited for the chords and then began. Gripping tight to the back of a chair she writhed with the music, feeling the pull of it, the sleaze of the club where _Murder Ballad_ was set. It was like she was there and the choir room faded away as she reached the chorus, hitting the centre of the room "Branded by love!"

Then Puck's voice came in, him setting the guitar down as he approached her. She stayed very still as he circled, never taking his eyes off her for a moment, except to glance away conflicted. Then she paced away again so they hit opposite sides of the room as they reached the next chorus, striking the harmony.

Finally, she turned to face him on the bridge, stamping her foot to the beat "_But if I choose to scar my story, does that mean that I'm in love with you!_" He turned on the next line and they paced towards each other for the final chorus, finishing the song almost nose to nose. In the show, Sara and Tom would kiss then, but this wasn't the show, this was the choir room. The choir room that was currently erupting in applause. Olivia looked around at them, stunned as she and Puck gave a quick bow and sat back down.

Derek stood, grinning "See, that's what I'm talking about, edgy new musical theatre that sounds like it's modern and doesn't apologize for it. Murder Ballad may be too small a show for us but it's the kind of show I want you exploring. Broadway does not mean out-of-touch or old fashioned, not by a long shot."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**

**I'm looking at easing a few more Smash characters into this story now.**

Sat at his office at home on Thursday night, Derek stared at the list of musicals before him. One stuck out on the page. _Venice_ by Jimmy Collins, Santana had found it and the kids had fallen for it completely. He knew that it was between that and _If/Then_. He found himself almost praying they would choose the Idina Menzel show. The amateur rights for _Venice _were barely out, the quickest way for him to get them would be to contact the writers directly and that would mean writing to Jimmy… which in turn would mean…

"Dad?" Olivia was stood in the doorway, holding out the phone to him "Mum wants to talk to you."

Blinking, he took the phone from his daughter and turned back to his desk "Good evening Miss Lynn and what can I do for you today?"

"Coaching show choir Derek, I mean, youth theatre was one thing but show choir?" Ivy sighed down the phone. Derek could hear the strain in her voice, she was preparing to do a show and it had been a long day, his best guess.

He smirked at himself in the reflection of his laptop screen "And what exploits has my little flower been through today to make her such a ray of sunshine?"

"The producers had me doing press all morning," she grumbled and he heard the clack of her slamming a make-up brush down on her dressing table. Then she sighed again, her breath coming out in a quick "huff".

A low chuckle escaped him "There's no business like show business."

"I crave your work hours," Ivy admitted passively then seemed to give him her full attention "So, you're coaching Olivia in show choir now, she's getting all of the solos, I presume."

Despite hearing the humour in her voice, Derek turned a little serious at that "You know I can't show favouritism, Ivy-"

"Who's showing favouritism, you're not telling me she's not the strongest kid in the room?" she said incredulously.

Looking back at the list, he replied "You'd be surprised." Once again, Derek's eyes fell on the name _Jimmy Collins _"Ivy, you don't know what Jimmy's doing with himself nowadays do you?"

"Derek, what makes you think I move in the same circles as Jimmy Collins?" she asked, a taint of sarcasm in her melodic voice.

Conscious of where his daughter might be lurking, he glanced back at the door before adding "Broadway is a small family, Tom stayed in touch didn't he?"

"I suppose…" she trailed off and then said "All I know is he and Karen got married a while back but they've kept their relationship private so more than that-"

"Basically, you don't know any more than the gossip blogs," Derek didn't know why he'd expected more.

With another sigh, she replied "Sorry Derek. Anyway, some of us have a show to do. Love you."

"Break a leg, darlin'," he chuckled dryly as they both hung up. After everything that had happened, he was very glad he and Ivy were still friends. Not only was it better for Olivia if they were on good terms but that woman understood him better than anyone else. Even if they couldn't make it work as lovers, they were the fiercest and strongest of friends.

Now, back to the musicals.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The club was gathered in the choir room, Olivia awkwardly sat on the end of the row as usual. Today however, Puck sat down next to her with a grin "So, what show do you think Willsy's gonna pick."

"Willsy?"

"Yeah, I think it suits him."

Olivia wasn't sure what her father would make of that, it set her smiling just thinking about it "What's your favourite of the shows?"

"That one Santana found, _Venice _isn't it?" he replied, searching her baby blue eyes "What about you?"

With a shrug, Olivia responded "I'm not sure yet, I like all of them."

"That's decisive," Kurt laughed from where he was sat, behind her. Of all of the members of the New Directions, Olivia found Kurt the hardest to read. Maybe it was the resting bitch-face or the fact that they hadn't talked much but she didn't quite know what to make of him. Nevertheless, Blaine had always been nice to her and, by association, she presumed Kurt must be okay.

Quietly, Olivia said "I guess I'm just waiting for something to jump out at me."

"Don't let it hit you in the face," Kurt smiled at her a little.

"Willsy" in question walked in at that moment. Before he caught himself, he sent a smile in his daughter's direction. Luckily he schooled his expression before anyone else looked his way "Right, today's vote day, unless we have any more-"

Olivia's hand shot up and Derek frowned "Olivia?"

"I've got a show I want to recommend, Mr Wills," Olivia stood so the New Directions had to look up at her. She wasn't exactly sure how her father would react to this, it wasn't something that he talked about. It wasn't often that Derek was thrown by something said by anyone but now he had to give his daughter the floor with no idea what she might do.

Slowly, Olivia wandered down to the room "This is Broadway Hear I Come from-"

"Stop right there!" Derek stood "Hit-List is off the table."

Having to stop herself from going into petulant child mode, Olivia asked "Why?"

"Because its…" he trails off because he doesn't have an answer. There are shows on that list that are more controversial, more rocky, more technically challenging. His reasons for not wanting to do Hit List are personal and he doesn't want to bring that before the kids. He didn't want to do Hit List because it was the show that had broken his heart in so many ways. There were too many memories that he associated with that score. Whether it was that poor boy who'd died so young or watching Karen fall for someone else, that show was more than he could take, not when he was so far from what he'd been before. That time in his life was not a place he wanted to revisit, especially not in front of Olivia.

Eventually, he settled for "Because it happens to be a show that really gets on my nerves. Sit down, Miss Lynn."

A strange silence fell over the room. Olivia sat back down, next to Puck who leant over to her and whispered a quiet "Are you okay?" She'd gone pale and her mouth was twisted to almost tears. Derek's stomach dropped, he'd humiliated her.

Clearing his throat, Derek began once more "Let's take a vote, shall we?" He was correct, it went down to _If/Then_ or _Venice _with half the glee club stood on the right for one show and the left for the other. In the end, Olivia had the deciding vote.

"Well, Olivia," Derek stood, looking at her as she was still sat on the risers "It seems you have your pick."

When she met his eyes then, he realized with a crash of despair that she was aware that he didn't want to have to do _Venice_. He'd underestimated her, as much as he'd tried to keep his hesitation hidden, Olivia was more than aware of his misgivings, even if she wasn't aware why he had them. Now, she was angry at him and one of the many things Olivia had inherited from Ivy was an impulsive spite which had at her marching briskly towards, Puck, Santana and _Venice_.

"Right," he said, using all his restraint to keep himself calm and unreadable "So, _Venice _it is, auditions will be on Monday. We'll call it a day, I'll see you then." Derek paced into his office, gripping the edge of his desk tight to stop himself chasing after Olivia as she darted out of the choir room. He should have just let her sing the stupid song, then vetoed the show. Isn't hindsight a magical thing? The rest of the glee club cleared out, Rachel only pausing a moment to ask for audition song suggestions. Slumping down at his desk, he began to draft his letter to Jimmy, best to get the bloody thing over with, while he waited for Olivia to return.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Kurt had followed Olivia down the corridor and into the girls' bathroom just as she locked herself into a bathroom stall. There was something about little Miss Lynn that he couldn't quite work out. She was pretty and seemed sweet enough, plus being fiercely talented but there was something behind her eyes. When Mr Wills had shut her down, he'd seen the first flash of genuine emotion in her. He'd seen humiliation and he just couldn't let her run and cry alone.

"Olivia? Are you okay?"

Sniffling, she replied "I'm fine, I just really needed the bathroom. You probably shouldn't be in the ladies' you know?"

"Yeah well, this time of evening the only girls who come in here are members of glee club so I think I'm reasonably safe," Kurt sighed, leaning against the sink "And I couldn't leave you to cry alone."

Voice shaking with tears, she said "I'm not crying, I have a cold."

"Yeah, well I happened to have had a cold more or less every day of junior year," he told her, catching his own eyes in the mirrors. How far he'd come "Most of the years before that too, actually – look you can't let a teacher turning you down get to you this much."

Inside the stall, Olivia laughed to herself, of course, Kurt wasn't to know that he was so much more than a teacher. The lie was on her tongue before she could feel guilty about it "It's not that, it's that you all know each other and I'm the new kids and he humiliated me in front of you all."

"Don't worry, Rachel's been humiliated in front of us all dozens of times and we all still tolerate her," he responded, pausing a moment before adding "Look, Blaine and I are going out for coffee, fancy tagging along, I mean, he's new too, maybe you can bond over your mutual discomfort."

This time, she laughed out loud through the catch of the drying tears. Although she knew she shouldn't leave without telling her Dad, the remnants of the anger from before washed the care away. Let him squirm, it would do him good. Opening the door, she faced him and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "That could be nice, thank you."

He smiled at her and led her from the bathroom. They went to the Lima Bean in Kurt's car with all three of them singing along to the radio at the top of their voices. Even though they were a couple, Kurt and Blaine didn't make her feel like she was intruding. They asked her about middle school, about her parents, about her dreams and never made her feel too young or out of place.

"I see you on the corridor, if you don't mind me saying, you don't seem to have many friends," Blaine commented.

Kurt opened his mouth to scold him but Olivia replied before he could "I've always been a bit of a loner, most kids my age aren't into the same things I'm into."

"Like what?" asked Kurt, glancing over at Blaine, beside him.

Shrugging, she admitted "Musicals, I guess."

"You've joined the right club," Blaine laughed then.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Derek was more than worried. It wasn't that it was very late, it was just that it wasn't like Olivia to be out without him knowing where she was. There had been no call, no text, no nothing. By now, he was very close to calling the police or at least Ivy. Pacing back and forth, he was playing through all of the possible terrible things that could have happened to her.

People drop dead all the time. They overdose on drugs. They get hit by a car just as their lives are beginning. He felt sick.

Finally, he heard the door open and close, her breathy laughter on the hall. Derek stood and ran to her, folding his arms tight around her. Frowning, even as she hugged him back, she questioned "Dad?"

He just hugged her tighter "I'm so sorry." Then, just as she began to relax into his arms, he pushed her away and held her at arm's length by her shoulders to look into her face "Where the bloody hell did you go? And, more importantly, what the hell do you think you're doing not calling me to tell me you were okay?"

"I'm not a child Dad, I can make decisions without asking you first," she pulled away and folded her arms, stubbornly.

With a shake of his head, Derek replied "I'm not asking you to run everything past me, I'm asking to know where you are. Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"I'm fine."

Sardonically, he laughed "Well, I know that now. Olivia, you have to understand-"

"I'm just trying to fit in, Dad, I don't need you making me look like an idiot," she grumbled, dropping her bag down at the bottom of the stairs.

Slowly, he folded his arms "Darlin' no-one could make you look like an idiot if they tried."

"Dad," she said warningly, then softened "Why do you never talk about Hit-list?" He barely resisted replying that he didn't want to talk about it. For Olivia, however, his silence spoke volumes. Not even meeting his eyes, she prompted "Isn't it during that show, you and Mom got together?"

As he took a step towards her "No, darlin', this isn't about me and your mother, it's… You saved me, do you know that? I was in a dark place on that show and, on the day of the Tony awards, when Ivy told me she was pregnant… I don't talk about it because I promised myself I'd leave it all behind me and start fresh with you."

"Leave what behind you?" she asked quietly. By this point her voice was barely more than a whisper.

He looked away at the picture on the wall, one of him and Ivy with a baby Olivia. There were a lot of things he'd put away to be Olivia's Dad. He'd left grief, heartbreak, reputation on the streets of New York and taken her away from them. It was one of the best decisions he'd ever made "You wouldn't have liked me much, back then, I was selfish and sexually driven and blind to a lot of things but the moment they put you in my arms, everything changed. It was such a complete focus shift. There's nothing quite like it."

Both of them looked at each other steadily then. They held eye-contact and waited for the other to break.

In the end, it was Olivia who broke first. "You're not going to give me specifics are you?"

"No, maybe one day, but not today."

"Okay," she sighed in resignation and turned to head to her room. Half way up the stairs she paused and glanced back at Derek, still standing at the bottom of the stairs. Gently, she smiled "I love you Dad."

"I love you too darlin'." More than life itself.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**

**Hi, firstly, I'd like to establish that Venice is actually a real musical by Eric Rosen and Matt Sax but I'm not a strong enough musical writer to make up another show out of thin air so, for our purposes, it was written by Jimmy Collins. It is loosely based on Othello and is a hip hop show about a revolution. Check it out though, it's a good show, here's the cast performing at Joe's Pub: **** watch?v=ib7nV0BaSJc**

On Monday morning, Olivia walked into school and was quickly flanked by Kurt and Blaine. They grinned at her as they did. Blaine asked "Ready for auditions?"

"Yeah, I think so," Olivia smiled, she was actually really excited about auditions, she'd been practising in the studio most of the weekend and she was sure she was gonna kill it after school. There was nothing she loved more than rehearsing a show, something she inherited from her parents, she guessed. The pure joy of it was coursing through her veins, she couldn't wait.

With a gentle nudge, Kurt raised his eyebrows "And what will you be auditioning for?"

"I was thinking, Willow," Olivia replied, her grinning growing but their response didn't give her hope.

Swallowing, Blaine said "Liv, that's the female lead, they never give leads to freshmen."

"I think Mr Wills would, if he thought I was the best one for the part," she protested. To be honest, Olivia was aware that, if she hadn't made him promise to only cast the show on talent, he probably would cast her in a second. She had, however, made him promise. Yes, she wanted this part, but she wanted it only if she was the best person for it.

Anxiously, Blaine continued "But Rachel's going for that part. Look, you're good but Rachel never misses out on the lead of a musical, I don't want you to be disappointed."

"What parts are you boys going for?" Olivia was determined to get the attention off of her. Both boys were going for Venice, the male lead. She grinned "Maybe, we'll be playing opposite each other." They gave her a kind of pitying look that made her distinctly, if unexplainably, angry.

Suddenly, the rest of the glee club were crowding round to walk with them. For the first time, Olivia felt like she was actually one of them. Rachel seemed a little put-out that she was there but everyone else greeted her like an old friend. It was nice, to feel like she had a crowd. As the others began chatting loudly about the antics of Principal Sylvester, Puck dropped into step beside Olivia. With a small lop-sided smile, Puck said "I presume you're auditioning for the school musical."

"Yeah, for Willow, what about you?"

"I'm going for Markos, I figured the evil brother angle wasn't a bad one for me."

"Can you rap?"

"Not as well as Artie, but I think I'll be able to swing it for the show," he shrugged "I've done bits and pieces here and there, anyway…" Giving her a considering glance, Puck added "You'll make a good Willow."

Her previous confidence, that had appeared in the wake of adversity from Kurt and Blaine, disappeared as though it was blood draining from her body "I don't know, Rachel's auditioning for it too and-"

"You'll be good, trust me, but I've got to get to class, see you at auditions," Puck backed away into the crowd, still smiling, Olivia wondered why she felt so weird about that.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Meanwhile, across the country, in New York City, the post had just arrived at the Collins residence. The apartment was small but it was all Jimmy needed, really. Two bedrooms, one for him and one for Kyle and Meredith when they stayed over. They complained about having to share a room but, since they were only there every other weekend, it didn't really matter that much. He picked up the mail and headed back through to his tiny kitchen to rifle through it.

The address on the first one was handwritten, which was odd. More odd was that the handwriting looked familiar, but he couldn't place it. Just as Jimmy was about to open it, there was a brief knock on the door and the sound of a key turning.

"Hey Karen."

He didn't even need to look up to know it was her, who else would be round this early.

Smiling, she dropped some bags by the door "Just dropping off Meredith's stuff, thanks for taking her tonight, I just don't want to leave her in the apartment alone while I take Kyle to-"

"Karen," he interrupted, with his usual charming smile "She's my kid, you don't need to thank me for watching her." So he didn't have to keep looking at her sweet, if pitying, smile back in his direction, Jimmy glanced back down at the post. It still broke his heart a little bit every time she came round but he dealt with it because they had two kids and seeing them mattered more than keeping his heart safe. What was worse was that she knew he felt that way and she pitied him for it. He wished she didn't, wished she hated him or was completely indifferent. Divorce was kind of a bitch.

All at once, he registered what the letter in his hand was "Shit!"

"What is it?" Karen asked, sitting down across from him.

Unable to keep the baffled expression from his face, Jimmy glanced up at her "You'll never guess who this letter's from."

"Who?"

"Derek Wills and what's weirder, he's asking for permission to do Venice as a high school production that he's directing," he babbled, seeing her eyes widen as he spoke. The baby-bird look that crossed her face, made her wish he hadn't told her. After all, her and Derek had history, one he didn't often like to be reminded of.

Voice breathy, Karen said "What's Derek doing directing youth theatre?"

"Search me, why would they even let him near children?" Jimmy knew he was being resentful and bitter but when he looked at her, he couldn't help it.

A little more defensively than he wanted her to sound, Karen scolded "Jimmy, that's not fair."

"Put it this way, I wouldn't leave Meredith alone with him," he grumbled, half under his breath.

Of course, she still heard. Her voice was incredulous as she scolded him "She's twelve, he's not a monster."

"Give it a few years though and-"

Warningly, she interrupted him "Jimmy."

"I know," he sighed, resigned. Karen had always been able to see right through him, it was one of the many things that had ended their marriage. The primary cause being his taking drugs again, which she'd known of almost as soon as he began again. She'd then thrown him out of the house, screaming at him for bringing drugs near their kids. Of course, he could see now how right she'd been, Meredith had only been three at the time and Kyle only five. If they'd got their hands on anything, the very thought made him feel sick. No, he couldn't blame her. What he'd done had lost Karen's trust forever.

"Are you going to give him the rights to do the show?" she asked, standing to go.

Glancing up at her, out of his memories, Jimmy replied "Do I really have a choice?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Back at McKinley, the anticipation for auditions was at near fever-pitch. They were going to audition by part, alphabetically, meaning Willow was the last part to be auditioned. Most of the boys were auditioning for either Venice or the Narrator, Puck turned out to be the only one going for Markos, that didn't necessarily mean he was going to get it though, Derek had maintained the right to reshuffle the cast.

He said as much as he stood on the stage before them "Everyone is guaranteed a spot in the chorus, of course. Now there are nine named parts in this show. The first part we'll be auditioning for would be Anna but no-one has put their name down for that part so, the narrator or "Clown MC" first up, Artie Abrams…"

There was stiff competition for all the parts but for many parts there was a stand-out choice. The Venice auditions were particularly tough, Kurt, Blaine and Finn all went for it. Derek considered that all three boys were evenly matched, but Venice needed a certain something that only Blaine seemed to have, he'd have to have good chemistry with whoever he cast as Willow, however.

Now came the girls auditioning for Willow. Rachel was first, she auditioned with a song from Chess, Heaven Help My Heart. There was no denying she was good but her performance, Derek considered, could have been more layered. An audience had to be able to see that there was a lot more going on with Willow than there appeared. That sort of thing could be taught by a good director though and Rachel seemed capable enough for that. The next person to audition was Tina, her performance was sweet enough but she didn't have enough power to play Willow. Then, the final girl auditioning for Willow, Olivia Lynn.

She'd been sat between Puck and Blaine, who both wished her luck as she stood. On her way by, she heard Rachel mumble to Finn, something about having it in the bag. What might have psyched other girls out just convinced Olivia that she had something to prove.

Collecting a stool, she set herself up at centre stage and took a deep breath "I'll be singing My Love, My Life by ABBA." Derek raised a questioning eyebrow at her and she just smiled back as she sat down. It was a little bit cheeky of her, she knew, her father loved this song. It was odd actually, because it wasn't of his usual taste but it was a sweet song and it allowed her to show all of the depth in Willow.

She steadied herself, letting the sadness of the music take her as she began "_I've seen it on your face,  
Tells me more than any worn out old phrase…_"

It was a song for a mezzo-soprano that swept up into some brilliant soprano notes at the end of each chorus. She began with a sad smile, then brought herself near-tears, only near though, because tears make it much harder to sing. Then there was a hint of anger in the second verse, which she let explode from her and then checked, with a deep breath. It was the perfect song to sing as Willow – she didn't only choose it because it was a favourite song of her father. As she faded out the last note, there was a small applause from Puck who grinned at her.

Olivia glanced at her father and he nodded with a smile, then stood to address the others "All right, well done, I'll post the cast list tomorrow, in the choir room, since no-one outside the glee club has auditioned-"

"Wait," Rachel stood, interrupting him "If you're posting the cast list tomorrow then you already know who you're going to cast so why not just tell us now?" Where, usually, they would have rolled their eyes at Rachel's presumptuousness, the glee club now sat up eagerly. They wanted to know the cast list as much as she did.

Sternly, Derek replied "I want to sleep on it, Miss Berry, and I don't appreciate my decisions being questioned." Once again, Rachel sat down, sheepishly blushing. For a moment, Derek almost looked guilty but then he turned to go "I'll see you all tomorrow." With that he was gone.

Olivia climbed down from the stage and was met by Puck who helped her down "You were awesome, I knew you had it in you."

"You were good," Rachel said, quietly "If you were a senior, I think you'd have it in the bag."

With an awkward shuffle, Olivia said "But I'm not."

"But you're not," Rachel nodded, curtly. Then, she left, followed closely by Finn. A silence descended on them as the rest of the glee club disappeared from the auditorium.

Stepping to her side, Kurt commented "You may not believe it but, from Rachel, that's a compliment."

"I believe it," Olivia replied with a smile. Then she swung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the door with a fleeting goodbye. She was actually buzzing because she had killed that audition and she knew it, she practically ran to the car. As arranged, Derek was waiting round the block. She hopped into the front seat practically beaming,

As he met her gaze, he smiled back "Well done, darlin' you have made it very hard for me to even consider casting anyone else."

"But Rachel was very good," Olivia protested, blushing.

He nodded as he pulled out into the road "And she'll make a very good, Anna."

"Are you serious?" she turned, light in her eyes "Because if Rachel's playing Anna then-"

"You got it darlin'."

Olivia let out a ridiculous squeal which had Derek cringing but still smiling. He loved it when she was happy, more than anything else in the world.


	5. Chapter 5

Monday night consisted of Olivia and Derek sat in their living room with Derek's notes and a cast list spread out on the table. She'd proudly written her own name next to Willow, still beaming, and they were left calculating the rest of the cast list.

"I suppose you'd like to choose your Venice," Derek laughed, putting the names of the three boys, side by side.

Leaning forward on the sofa, Olivia said, without a moment of hesitation "Blaine."

"What?" he frowned, not necessarily stunned by her choice but surprised with how quickly she made it "But Finn and Kurt-"

With a shrug, Olivia interrupted "Are both very good, they both could potentially play Venice. Finn's probably the weakest technically and he struggles with the acting a bit but he's proven himself a natural leader, a quality which is more than necessary for Venice. Then Kurt, who has a lot more depth and vulnerability, the acting is definitely not a problem for him but honestly, I think he's a little too smart for it, Venice needs to be much more trusting, he'll do a lot better with a part like Westbrook or Victor. That leaves Blaine, technically good, natural leader _and _wide-eyed enough to pull off Venice. It's really a no-brainer."

"You're very smart, do you know that?" Derek flashed her his signature smile. Some days he wished that she'd chosen directing and not acting as her chosen path. She was really bright and had a great eye. That, coupled with her natural feel for words and music, made her a pretty strong director, one way or another. As he wrote down Blaine's name the phone rang.

He was about to get it himself when Olivia was up and answering it "Hello?"

"Hi, is Derek Wills there?"

Olivia didn't recognise the voice, usually the only people who called the house were family, well and a few family friends. "Can I ask who's calling?"

"Jimmy Collins, it's about the show-"

"Oh my God, you wrote Venice, it's such a good show and I'm-"

Realising what was happening, Derek pried the phone from Olivia and took the call "Sorry Jimmy, you were saying?"

"Derek Wills, long time no see." Smug bastard.

Leaving Olivia with the cast list, he moved through to his office. As much as he tried to stay honest with his daughter, there were some conversations she didn't need to hear. Jimmy was not a person he particularly wanted in his daughter's life. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, get to the point, do we have the rights?"

"Okay, you're not expecting me to waste this opportunity to figure out what the hell Derek Wills is doing directing a high school production." He could hear the humour in Jimmy's voice but it was forced. Oh good, Jimmy still hated him, he thought they'd got past that. Then again, he didn't exactly leave things on a good note.

Derek sighed "None of your business, Jimmy. You're either planning to give us the rights or you're not so can we cut to the chase?"

"Oh how the tables have turned." Another smug comment was about to begin when Jimmy was interrupted by a voice that sounded distant but distinctly female. Maybe it was Derek's heart talking but God did it sound like Karen. Jimmy answered the woman "Yeah, I'll be there in a minute, I just have to finish this call." There was a softness to Jimmy's voice as he spoke, a softness Derek recognised.

"Who's that Jimmy?"

"Hey, I didn't ask you about the sweet little theatre kid who answered the phone, she sounded a little young for you, Derek."

Derek's stomach turned as he glanced back through the door at Olivia, curled up on the sofa "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Whatever, look, you can have the rights for free, I'll email all the materials over to you by tomorrow-" Derek could feel a but coming "-on one condition." After all, Jimmy was all about the: what's in it for me?

Sighing, he resigned himself to the worst "I'm listening."

"I get to come and workshop the show with your cast, get a feeling for how things are going for you over there, maybe warn them."

If he hadn't been almost sure that Jimmy was bluffing, Derek would never have agreed but as it happened, he knew he could deal with Jimmy Collins. Hell, if he hadn't been able to, Hitlist would never have gotten off the ground. Now here they were. Jimmy was right, the tables had turned but Derek was safe in the knowledge that, if he wanted to, he could turn them right back again. There were a lot of things, Derek had on Jimmy, if only one of them was Karen.

"We have a deal, Jimmy, I'll write in a couple of months when I've got it on its feet, you can come meet the kids."

"You better-" Jimmy managed to utter as Derek hung up the phone. Rubbing his temples, Derek set the phone back in its cradle and returned to Olivia. He knew Jimmy suspected that the girl who'd picked up the phone was a girlfriend. Let him make that mistake, he didn't need to know what was going on in Derek's life. It shouldn't bother him so much that Jimmy could pass on that information to Karen but it did. He wasn't the man he used to be.

Eyeing him cautiously, Olivia questioned "Dad?"

"Sorry, I was daydreaming," he sighed, leaning back over the cast list.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The cast list did indeed go up at lunch time on Tuesday morning. Even though Olivia already knew who was getting which part, she couldn't very well let on that she knew so she let Kurt and Blaine drag her to see it.

As soon as they got there Puck came barrelling towards them and swept Olivia up in a bear hug "Congratulations, Liv."

It was a credit to her acting ability that she managed to continue looking confused as she hugged him back "What? What did I get a good part?"

"More than a good part, Olivia," Puck said, dropping her gently back to the floor "You got Willow." She widened her eyes and let her mouth flap a bit in surprise as the boys hugged her. Still feigning disbelief, she stumbled to the cast list and saw it written there in black and white.

Artie had been cast as the narrator or "Clown MC" who got to basically lead the chorus. Then there was Blaine as Venice, the leader of the revolution and Olivia as his girlfriend, Willow. Puck had been cast as Venice's evil half-brother, Markos, with Mercedes playing his wife, Emilia. It was safe to say that Rachel wouldn't be pleased to be billed beneath Olivia and Mercedes, she had been cast as Venice and Markos's mother, Anna. The high class singer and prostitute, Hailey Daisy, would be played by Santana. Willow's ex-boyfriend, Theodore Westbrook, would be played by Kurt and the leader of the opposition military, Micheal Victor, would be played by Finn.

"I couldn't have cast it better myself," Kurt said, with a small sad smile "Rachel won't be happy though."

With a shrug, Puck commented "She's already seen it, went immediately storming off, I get the feeling Willsy's going to get an earful."

A wicked glint in his eye, Kurt asked "I don't suppose any of you guys fancy going to watch?" Before she knew it, Olivia was being dragged back towards the choir room and her father's office. There was already a small crowd when they got there. It turns out most of the glee club had turned out to watch this face off.

As she got to the front of the group, Olivia found herself next to Mercedes who immediately took Olivia's arm "Don't take anything Rachel says to heart, okay? She's angry and stunned and she's upset that she won't have the lead in her senior musical. Honestly, she's a lot better person than she's about to show herself to be."

"Thanks," Olivia replied with a small smile "Congratulations, by the way, you'll make a really good Emilia."

Smiling back, Mercedes said "Thanks."

Suddenly, Rachel's voice cut harshly into the air "Do you know how much time and effort I've given this club? There would not be a glee club without me, I am captain and I have been the lead in every school musical we've attempted to put on here-"

"None of which have actually had a run, have they?" Derek retorted "Principal Sylvester brought me up to date on that score, a production of Caberet with a cast of just you and a vetoed production of Rocky Horror, that's quite the track record, Miss Berry."

Bristling, Rachel replied "I have paid my dues, I deserve this part."

"Rachel," Derek began "If you go around thinking you _deserve_ things, you're going to get a big shock in the real world. On the day, Olivia was better for the part, she's got something that works for Willow. You're good but you're-"

"What do you know about the real world!" she protested "You're a teacher! Can you even do any of the stuff you're coaching us for?"

With a sigh, Derek turned to the crowd "All right, sit in the risers, I'm only going to do this once." They all scuttled to their seats, a little guilty for having been caught watching the argument. As she was moving over, Derek caught Olivia's arm "I may require a duet partner, Miss Lynn."

"What's the song?" she asked, they actually had a few numbers in their repertoire. Derek had never been good at saying no to Olivia when she was younger, meaning she'd forced him into blocking, choreographing and participating in multiple duets. Tom, Julia, Eileen and Ivy had delighted in the short song and dance shows they'd done, much to Derek's embarrassment. Never had Derek considered himself a performer and performing for a group of people who were supposed to respect him was one of his worst nightmares. Damn it, he shouldn't have to prove himself.

Seeing the look on his face, she prompted "Mr Wills?"

"Pick one," Derek said, his eyes showing his fear.

She looked at the crowd "We Both Reached for the Gun?"

"Tap dancing?" he cringed.

With a nod of resignation, she conceded "Good point, what about Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"

"That might work, you remember the routine?" Derek asked.

Olivia glanced at the crowd "Mostly, I'll follow your lead, try and make it look improvised." Somewhat nervously, Derek nodded. As she hurried over to Brad to tell him the song (did that man live here?), Derek introduced the song.

As soon as Olivia was in her place, Derek began "_Who wants to be a millionaire?_"

"_I don't._" Olivia sang, stepping forward so she was level with him.

"_Have flashy flunkies everywhere?_"

"_I don't._"

"_Who wants the bother of a country estate?_"

"_A country estate, is something I hate._"

The routine was reasonably simple, it involved a lot of stepping about but luckily every move Derek did, Olivia did about a beat afterwards, so it looked like it really was improvised. Each step, each pirouette, perfectly mimicked, always a step behind. To anyone who knew, it would have been obvious that Derek was the one who taught Olivia how to dance but they didn't know, so it just went over their heads.

Rachel was sick with irritation. Seeing him, it was obvious he was a properly trained dancer and a decent enough singer and actor too. What made it worse was that Olivia was proving herself too. Derek could have chosen anyone to duet with but he chose her, like another punch to Rachel's ego. As they finished the song, they slipped into perfect unison, linked arms and finished the number. Everyone else applauded eagerly as the two of them gave a fleeting bow.

As Olivia quickly scuttled to sit down with Kurt and Blaine, Derek turned to Rachel "Happy, Miss Berry?"

"For now," she mumbled.

The bell rang for the end of lunch and Derek said "See you all at rehearsal, tonight, don't be late."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

They were all sat on the front of the stage that evening, waiting for Derek to make his entrance. To Olivia, McKinley's auditorium seemed huge, the regional and junior theatre companies she performed with before had worked with houses half the size of this one. Sitting there, staring up at the seats brought it into perspective a little. The others said that they'd never fill it but still, it was a sobering thought that so many people could potentially come and see her perform.

None of them actually saw Derek come in and sit himself down in the director's chair, with his notes and his table. Apparently he'd passed the scripts down to the band who passed them round to the cast.

His voice made them jump as it boomed through the speakers "All right, ladies and gentlemen, I want to start with the opening number, not surprisingly." Finally, Derek thought as they cleared the stage, he actually got to do some directing. He dropped his bags by the desk taking only his notes for the opening number down to the stage. "Right, the opening number sets up the whole show, it sets Artie up as the narrator and it sets up all of the characters as they are at the beginning of the show. So I'm going to set everyone up at the back of the stage except Rachel. Can I have everyone on stage?" They all gathered around him on the stage, he sent Artie to the lip of the stage, then lined up the rest of the cast at the back, facing away from the audience. Blaine stood at one end of the line, with Olivia at the other, Kurt and Finn stood either side of Puck at the centre. Then Derek re-arranged them again so they were stood boy-girl, Olivia still at one end and Blaine still the other.

"Take a look at the people stood with you, see them, be aware of where you are on stage I do not want to do this again," Derek said sternly.

Suddenly, from the audience, Rachel's hand shot up and she said "Mr Wills, I don't mean to be rude but one side it much more ethnic than the other."

"I'm aware, Rachel, it's deliberate," Mr Wills said, "Those closer to Olivia live in the safer parts of Venice, they'll be more likely to be white, it's a comment on inequality, nevertheless, I shouldn't have to explain my decisions to you." Then, turning back to them he instructed "Stay here until I tell you to." He paced back, gave Artie his direction and then stood back a little.

By the end of the rehearsal, they'd got most of the number blocked so Derek went back up to the director's seat and said "Let's run it."

Artie rolled onto the stage and stopped centre to say "Ladies and gentlemen, we shades of the city of Venice ask you to follow us. If you dream of peace, follow us. If you dream of freedom, follow us. If you know these are not the same thing… Well are you ready?"

The line at the back turned in perfect universe as the music swelled except Blaine and Olivia who stayed in their opposing corners. The boys marched forward with a "_Left, right. Left, right. Left, right._" Followed by the girls on the next line. Their marching was carefully choreographed and they seemed to be pulling it off reasonably well. They then ended in two lines facing each other, those to the right of Puck and Puck himself in one line and everyone else in the other. Puck's line was supposed to be the military and those in the safe zone while the other was the common people. There was just enough space between the two lines for Artie to wheel himself through doing the next bit of dialogue.

The common people followed Artie off to the left as they sang "_We the citizens of Venice_." They did their little bit of choreography before the military grouped at the other side of the stage to do their little bit. So far so good. Then the next verse which the whole chorus did together, the military and the common people merging for the next bit of choreography.

Next they ducked and turned, in not-quite-perfect synchronisation, to look at Blaine stood centre upstage so he could do his first bit of singing, supposedly a speech to the people on his election as Mayor. Some choreography before they grouped in close around him. Artie rolled back downstage and introduced Willow.

Olivia turned and ran to centre stage hitting it just as she sung "_Dear Venice, can you feel me coming?  
I've been making my plans, waiting to run, for oh so long_."

Derek couldn't help but feel a certain pride in her as she finished her verse and ran into the wings. She didn't have long to make it round. She was going to enter from the auditorium on her next cue, which was only a couple of verses away.

Next verse was Kurt's, breaking away from the crowd around Blaine to mourn the loss of Willow. Then he retreated back upstage with "_She needs to wear my wedding ring._"

"_For all those who have died,_" Blaine added.

That was Olivia's cue, sure enough she made it, entering the back of the auditorium just in time to utter "_By your side._"

All of the melodies crescendo and swelled over each other into one common thought, where all of the chorus faced the audience with their fists in the air. There was no doubt that the glee club were hugely strong musically. The harmonies were really hitting home and with very little rehearsal. Hopefully, this bode well for the future. This broke to make way for Olivia's voice as she walked straight down the centre aisle of the auditorium towards the stage, the chorus turning to look at her and parting into two sides to allow her a passage to meet Blaine.

A small duet between Olivia and Blaine, and the chorus all turned on the last line to say with a fierce determination "_We are all the citizens of Venice._" The song finished with a sharp chord. Leaving them all standing in what would be half-back-light once they got to tech. Even though he was in a high school theatre in Ohio, he felt home. This was his place, directing, wherever and whoever he was directing, this was where he was meant to be. Here in this chair.

"Well done guys, once we clean that up, it'll be really something. I'll see you next rehearsal."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Later that night, Blaine was over at Kurt's. They were supposed to be doing homework, no such thing was occurring. After all, they were teenagers.

It was when Blaine had gone down to the kitchen to grab some snacks and drinks that Kurt came across it. He had started researching the show, trying to contextualise the show a little bit. Jimmy Collins wasn't a particularly prolific composer, he only had one or two shows to his name. It said on his Wikipedia page that he'd struggled a lot with drugs which probably explained that.

"What are you looking at?" asked Blaine as he returned, setting down the tray on Kurt's dresser.

With a shrug, Kurt replied "Researching the composer of the show, Jimmy Collins."

"Never heard of him," Blaine yawned slightly as he sat down beside his boyfriend.

"That's because he doesn't seem to write much," Kurt said "We have three shows to his name, one's _Venice_, then there's _Songs for Kyle_ and _Hit list_."

Frowning, Blaine pointed out "Isn't _Hit list_ the one that Mr Wills stopped Liv from doing last week?"

Kurt couldn't remember but he followed the link through to _Hit list_'s Wikipedia page, he couldn't quite resist his own curiosity. It seemed Mr Collins had starred in the show as well as writing it, wasn't he busy? It was nominated for loads of Tony Awards, around sixteen years ago, even won a couple, including one for…

"Blaine? What's Mr Wills's first name?"

**A/N**

**Sorry, bit of a cliff-hanger there, I hope to update again soon. Keep the reviews coming, they keep me motivated.**

**Here's a full cast list, if you're interested.  
Clown MC – Artie Abrams  
Venice Munroe – Blaine Anderson  
Willow Turner – Olivia Lynn  
Markos Monroe – Noah Puckerman  
Emilia Monroe – Mercedes Jones  
Anna Monroe – Rachel Berry  
Hailey Daisy – Santana Lopez  
Theodore Westbrook – Kurt Hummel  
Michael Victor – Finn Hudson  
Chorus – Mike Chang, Tina Cohen-Chang, Sam Evans, Quinn Fabray, Brittany Pierce.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**

**Hi all, sorry it's taken me so long to update, exam season caught up with me. Thanks for all the reviews though, they've really helped me keep going with it. Here's the next chapter, it contains some bad language towards the end.**

Rehearsals for _Venice_ were going well. They'd gotten three numbers into the show after only a week of rehearsals and, when the football team had practise, they'd managed to block Olivia and Mercedes's duet. They'd been concentrating mostly on numbers so the scenes still needed work but, on the whole, Olivia thought things were really starting to come together.

Also, Rachel seemed to have calmed down. At one of the rehearsals where the boys were at football practise, Derek had pulled her aside and asked about her dance ability. There was a section at the end of the show where Venice is talking to his dead mother, Anna, of course she can't reply but in it she has a part of the song. Basically, Derek had an idea for the scene that involved Rachel dancing around Blaine. This opportunity for Rachel to show off, cheered her up no end. She was now really embracing her part and she had even taken to giving Oliva friendly tips. Although this was starting to get a little bit irritating, Olivia could see Rachel's intentions were ultimately good.

Sometimes Kurt would interject to stop Rachel's onslaughts but he'd been awfully distracted lately. He and Blaine both actually. Even though she noticed it, Olivia felt she wasn't really close enough to them to call them out on it.

Luckily for her, however, Mercedes wasn't about to take any of it. On the way to rehearsal, that Tuesday, she asked "Are you two all right, because you've both seemed real distracted this last couple of days?"

"We're fine," Kurt said, blushing a little.

Blaine, who was a much better liar when it came to things like this, replied "We've just been wondering who Mr Wills is."

"Who he is?" Rachel asked, as she fell into step beside them "What's that supposed to mean?"

With a shrug, Blaine explained "A guy like him doesn't seem like the sort that gets the call to start teaching. He's more the go out and get it type, right?"

"Really?" Mercedes rolled her eyes "You two have been so distracted lately because you've been psycho-analysing our glee club coach's life choices?"

Raising his arms, in an attempt to convince them, Blaine said "Come on, don't you think he's a little bit of a weird choice to replace Mr Schu?"

"Maybe," Rachel shrugged "But this is Sue we're talking about, are we sure she even wanted to replace Mr Schu? She's never been the glee club's biggest fan." The conversation continued, Olivia began to feel uncomfortable. They hadn't asked for her opinion yet and, honestly, she didn't know what she'd do when they did. Of course, she was the best informed of all of them but they didn't need to know that. What had brought this on though? It didn't bode well for her, if they started sniffing around her father. Before they could get round to asking her anything, however, they reached the auditorium. It was too risky here to gossip about their glee club teacher.

They settled in the auditorium, dropping their bags onto chairs and moving to where they were needed. Rehearsals progressed as they always did, Olivia was probably quieter than usual but no-one seemed to pay any attention to that. They ran the number called _Anna _it was a big production number but not one Olivia was needed for so she could sit it out in the audience and watch her father.

Unlike the others, Olivia had seen her father direct before and that meant that she knew his style, knew how focussed he got. So she was also the only one who would notice how distracted he was today. On the one hand, he seemed fine, he was going through the motions, but he wasn't in it, she couldn't help wondering why. As the rehearsal drew to a close, she barely resisted going up to him and asking outright but Puck caught her arm with a smile and brought her back to reality. She couldn't quiz her Dad, she had to keep up the illusion.

"Now, I would ask Rachel but I want an answer not a lecture on acting technique," Puck said as he pulled her aside "Am I getting the subtext of that scene right?"

With a frown, she asked "The subtext?"

"Well I know that it's in that scene that you get all of the backstory right? Because Venice was always Anna's favourite son, which is why Markos hates him so much," Puck explained "But if I don't react right, you're not gonna get that so I want to know if I'm playing that right."

Awkwardly, Olivia admitted "I kind of zoned out a bit, so I wasn't really watching you but you're clearly well-informed which is always gonna help… I'll pay more attention next time we run the scene and tell you then."

"Deal," he grinned and swung his backpack over his shoulder "And here was me thinking you'd be watching me all the time." Something in his smile, set Olivia on edge. It made her feel all warm and fluttery and weak. She hoped to God she wasn't blushing.

Most of the glee club had vacated the auditorium now. The only ones left were Brittany and Santana, who'd just located a lost pencil of some significance to Brittany. Olivia offered them a cursory wave as she hurried out into the carpark and then round the corner to where her Dad was parked. Before she hopped in, she righted herself, making sure no signs of her earlier flustered state remained. Distracted or no, however, Derek knew his daughter "What's got you blushing?"

"Nothing," Olivia sunk into her seat, awkwardly "It's the heat!"

"It's October."

"Exactly, it's the heat of the heater, in comparison to the cold outside," she grinned up at him, hoping he believed her.

With a roll of his eyes, he started up the car "All right darlin', all right…" She was so glad that he'd let it go, she completely forgot to ask him what had him so distracted in rehearsals.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

In her New York City apartment, Karen was setting dinner on the table, ready for Kyle and Meredith to get home from school. She had to get to the theatre soon, to start prep for the show that evening but she always tried to be home when the kids got in, so she knew they were okay.

Meredith, of course, got in first. Long brown hair that had been straightened that morning was now slightly rumpled where she'd been running her hand through it all day. She was twelve, just starting to look less like a little girl and more like a young lady. Every day it was Meredith that scared Karen, she changed every minute, grew every second and Karen was never sure she'd be able to keep up.

"Hey Merry," Karen smiled, setting down her plate "How was school?"

With a shrug, Meredith replied "The same as always…" she set her bag down by the door and shook off her coat, shuffling awkwardly on the mat. There was something she wanted to say, something she was nervous of saying. With a sigh, she made her way towards the kitchen and her mother. "Mom?"

"Yes," Karen said, mimicking her tone.

She tugged nervously at her own hair "They're reviving the Sound of Music…"

"I'm aware," she thought she saw where this was going.

Staring at her feet, Meredith continued "And they're auditioning for the kids this weekend and it's an open call and-"

"Meredith, what did we agree?"

"That we'd wait until I finished school before I started auditioning for jobs but Mom, I could do both, lots of kids do it and it's not even every night of the week, they hire more than one kid so-"

With a shake of her head, Karen replied, more sternly "No, Meredith, you don't understand what it is to do a show like that, even if it's not eight shows a week."

"No-one understands better than me, I grew up with Broadway stars, I know this business, I know it's hard but Mum, I know this is what I want and I know I'm capable of doing this," there was something in the girl's determination that made Karen think twice. That sort of fire couldn't just be put out, you'd only get burnt trying. She needed to handle this a little differently.

Quietly, Karen gestured to dinner "Sit down and eat, let me sleep on it, I'll talk to you about it tomorrow, okay?"

Though not completely satisfied, Meredith nodded and sat down. At that exact moment, the front door slammed open and Kyle walked in. Without much more than a grunt in greeting, he marched up to the table, picked up his plate and stormed off towards his room.

"No you don't Kyle, sit down and eat with your sister and I." Not for the first time, Karen wished Kyle was more like his namesake and less like his father. Unfortunately, Karen was stuck with a moody Jimmy-double who liked to shut himself away for hours on end, something that worried Karen a little. It wasn't his anti-social nature, it was that Kyle and Meredith were often home alone for long periods of time while she was working. Their neighbours kept an eye out for them but still Karen relied on her kids to look after each other. When Kyle seemed more than eager to ignore Meredith indefinitely, it played on her mind a little.

As soon as he sat down however, Meredith started teasing him about some girl and he was grinning. No, she didn't have anything to worry about really, her kids loved each other.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Just before lunch the next day, Olivia was walking past the lockers to the choir room. Her and Blaine were getting together to run their duets this lunch and she'd talked to her Dad so she knew he'd be there to give them any extra direction they needed. She was actually running through the lyrics in her head when the cheerios surrounded her. There were around five or six of them, taller than her and moving in perfect group formation.

Olivia hadn't felt this alone in weeks "Er, can I help you?" They giggled a little about her accent and Olivia blushed, she knew she was better spoken than most kids.

"A little bird told me you're the newest glee club freak, blondie," said one of them, the leader by the looks of things.

Backing herself up against the lockers, in an attempt to defend herself, Olivia whimpered "Yeah, I er, guess so."

"And you haven't been initiated, well we have been negligent, haven't we girls," said another, laughing. Olivia's stomach turned as she considered what exactly initiation might be.

Still, she pulled herself together. Possible escape routes? There weren't many, her best option was probably to dart through them. She was a dancer, she just had to get from mark A to mark B like she would onstage. A simple move, no worries. At least that wouldn't be the case if she wasn't frozen with fear. What exactly was she even afraid of? They were just cheerleaders.

Suddenly there was a rush of cold and stinging blue liquid in her eyes. She gasped and shut her eyes tight for a minute. The girls retreated, laughing "Welcome to glee club."

Olivia wasn't sure how to react or where to go and then two hands grabbed her arms "Shit, are you okay?" It was Puck, handing her tissues to rub the sugared ice from her eyes and ushering her back along the corridor until he found an empty classroom. He sat her on a desk and went to the sink "You're lucky you're on the home economics corridor." Quietly, he cleared away the slushy and she just sat there, too close to tears to move. He did all that he could and then said "Do you have a change of clothes?"

The shake of her head was enough to bring on the tears. Worriedly, Puck frowned and wrapped his arms around her "I know, getting slushied sucks." It was strangely comforting to have his arms around her

"People have done this to you?"

"Not as much as they've done it to people like Rachel but yeah, they have, the crying helps by the way, Kurt says it clears the sugars and stuff out of your eyes," he smiled a little, shakily, trying to cheer her up. It worked, somewhat, making her hiccup on her tears, trying to stop them. Grinning then, he said "That was almost a smile."

As she tried to pull herself together, she shrugged "Sorry, I over-reacted." She took stock of the blue stains on her pink dress, making it look tie-dyed purple, she hoped to God it was easy to wash out.

"Nah, it's always a shock to the system the first time it happens, you're all right," he replied, thumbing a tear from her cheek "You wanna head to the cafeteria, get some lunch."

Rather abruptly, Olivia remembered where she was supposed to be "No I already ate, I was heading to the choir room for rehearsal with Blaine."

"Okay, I'll walk you there," Puck shrugged, helping her down off the desk and heading for the door. As they walked to the choir room, Puck walked with her protectively. It wasn't that he put his arm around her or anything like that, he just stood a little behind, like a bodyguard, looking over her shoulder and glaring at anyone who looked their way. Something about it made her feel safe, until they entered the choir room.

Derek and Blaine were sat on the risers, going through the script, her lateness had clearly been noticed. When the door clicked open, Puck holding it for Olivia, they both looked up. Immediately, Blaine looked somewhat empathetic but Derek stood and paced towards her "What the bloody hell happened?"

"It's fine, Mr Wills, Olivia just got slushied," Puck shrugged.

That wasn't going to placate Derek, however, he was fuming. True, he was trying his best to hide it but there was no doubt he was angry. He was barely resisting taking Olivia into his arms and telling her it would all be okay, they'd deal with it, it would be fine. She'd been crying, he could tell.

"Who did this to you?"

Seeing the teacher's anger, Blaine stood to explain "It's their personal torture for the glee club, Mr Wills, it's okay, you just have to remember to bring a change of clothes and stuff."

"How can you be so casual about this?" Derek spat at the boys, making them back off just a little.

Of course, Olivia stood her ground, staring at her feet "Mr Wills, it's fine, I'm okay."

"Are you really?" Derek looked unconvinced, sarcasm was dripping from his tone and he was searching her face.

Having calmed herself down a little, Olivia could see where this was going, her father was being too obvious. When he went into protective-dad-mode he lost his ability to think straight, if he wasn't careful he'd give everything away. She needed to diffuse this situation, right now. Dropping her bags by the risers, she said "I'd like to just forget about it, to be honest, can we run the numbers?" Derek was about to argue when he turned and met his daughters eyes, she wanted him to drop it. With a sigh, he shrugged and agreed.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was Jimmy's weekend to have the kids, unfortunately for him, both were moody. Meredith was moping about Karen not allowing her to audition for a show and Kyle was being… well he was being Kyle. To be honest, Jimmy was starting to suspect that Kyle hated coming to his apartment every other weekend. Every time he discussed it with Karen, she said he was just like that all the time but Jimmy didn't buy it.

As he sat down at the table, Jimmy sighed "Kyle, get off your phone and come eat with us."

"No thanks, not hungry," he said, without looking up, his chocolate hair falling over his eyes.

Jimmy rolled his eyes "Don't be an ass."

"I'm not being an ass Dad, I'm just not hungry," Kyle shrugged, curling into himself as he sat on the sofa.

Picking at her food, Merdith announced "He skipped lunch today."

"Did not!" All at once Kyle was glaring up at the table, looking alert and alight with anger.

"Did too! You weren't in the cafeteria all lunch!"

"That's 'cause I went off-campus, dummy."

"That's against school rules."

"Bite me, rat."

Desperately, Jimmy tried to regain control of the situation. Karen was so much better at dealing with stuff like this. Waving his arms about Jimmy said "Wait, wait, wait, Kyle, why the hell are you going off campus?"

"Does it matter?" the boy shrugged, returning his gaze to his phone.

With a sigh, Jimmy replied "Yes it matters, why are you going off campus?" Kyle shrugged it off again. Why couldn't the kid have picked up more of Karen's DNA and less of his? Then again, the stubborn nature was probably as much hers as his. The brooding of course, was definitely his fault and the mood swings, more him than her. Okay, so Kyle was pretty much a chip off the old block, that didn't make him any less irritating.

"Meredith, why is he going off campus?" Jimmy knew his daughter, she was a compulsive gossip. If there was any word going round school about Kyle, Meredith would know about it. Her big brown eyes – Karen's eyes – widened and she glanced across at Kyle. Oh, it was bad, Meredith was fine winding Kyle up about stuff that didn't matter, like skipping lunch or not cleaning his room but she wasn't a snitch. That meant it was something that she knew Kyle would fry her for telling.

Slowly shaking his head, Kyle met his sister's eyes "Not a word, Mer."

"Meredith?" Jimmy kept staring at her too, she wasn't her brother, she wasn't good at standing up to authority.

Standing, Kyle shouted "Don't do that, don't pressure her, don't make her choose, it's not fair!"

"Then why don't you tell me, Kyle?" he retorted.

Incredulous, the boy laughed without humour "Don't do that, Dad, don't use her to emotionally blackmail me, that's fucked."

"Watch your language!"

"My language is the least of your worries," Kyle's face was twisted with anger and he marched through to the next room. Usually, Jimmy would have followed him but honestly, he didn't have the energy to fight any more.

In the next room, Kyle was crouched on the floor, trying to suppress the anger within him. Then he saw a letter on the floor, a letter addressed to his Dad from a Derek Wills. Kyle recognised that name, it was one his father cursed every now and again, it was one his mother tried not to mention. Suddenly, he had a brilliant idea of how to mess with his Dad.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**

**Hi all, once again it's taken me a little longer to update than I would have liked. Thanks so much for the reviews.**

Olivia wasn't good at Mondays. She was aware that there were few people in this world that _were_ actually good at Mondays but on the rehearsal that evening, she managed to convince herself that no-one could hate Mondays as much as she did in that exact moment. That weekend, Ivy had turned up to see her and taken her on a surprise shopping trip which was great because she loved her Mum and really enjoyed shopping with her. The downside of this was that she'd had a hugely busy weekend with very little time to do her homework. In other words, to get her schoolwork done she'd had to sacrifice sleep hours. Basically, by the time she'd got to last lesson, Olivia had been about ready to pass out and sleep for days. Yet she had rehearsal. It was at this point that being the director's daughter revealed itself to be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, she could not skip it, her father would kill her but he was also aware of how tired she was and why, so he went easy on her and concentrated on other scenes.

She didn't even know she'd fallen asleep until Puck shook her awake about halfway through the rehearsal. Blinking, she sat up "Sorry, it's been a long day."

"You don't have to apologize for being human," he grinned at her and brushed some stray her from her face "And Willsy hasn't said anything so I don't think he's noticed either."

Olivia caught Derek's eyes as he turned away from the stage for a moment. No matter what Puck thought, Derek knew she'd been napping, he'd just chosen not to draw attention to the fact.

Onstage, they were running Santana's title number, _Hailey Daisy_. The boys of the chorus were onstage plus Santana with Brittany and Quinn as back-up dancers. Then, of course Artie who narrated this song. It was a sassy number. The girls were giving it everything. Derek had to juggle some really intense choreography in this sequence, he'd chosen a very good scene for her to be able to rest through, unnoticed.

"_She's admired, desired by the masses_." Santana rapped with a sassy head movement, sizing up Artie.

He rapped back "_She's on fire turn the city into ashes_."

Then the real dancing began, Derek had realised some of these kids could really move. What he was teaching them would look damn near spectacular once they got it nailed down.

The male chorus took the song as they postured around her "_Oh Hailey Daisy baby, got me feeling crazy lately, tick tick boom, when she walks in the room…_"

Suddenly, Puck pulled her attention away from the stage "Impressive, isn't it, I'm glad I don't have to learn that choreography."

"I'm almost sorry that there's no way I could be in that number," Olivia laughed in response. When Puck sent her a questioning glance, she explained "My Dad practically raised me in toe-shoes."

"Toe shoes?"

"I dance," she said quickly.

With a teasing smile, Puck asked "You any good?"

She raised her eyebrows at the challenge, wide awake in moments. She stood, stretched a little and then executed a perfect triple-pirouette. Finishing with a flourish of the arms, she turned to grin at him. To her surprise, he'd flushed bright red. With a frown, she questioned "What is it?"

Clearing his throat, awkwardly, he commented "I guess you must be quite er, flexible." He blushed even more and ran his hand through his Mohawk before investigating the back of his hands for a moment.

"Olivia!" Derek called from across the auditorium "Would you come over here and help me demonstrate this move?" She scurried down the steps to help him, with one last glance back at Puck as she went. Little did she realise, the unholy trinity had been watching and taking notice.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Ivy was over at Tom's for an early dinner before she had to make her way to the theatre to get ready for the show. He was coming to see the show tonight. It was a revival of _Into the Woods_, actually quite a mediocre one, in the great scheme of things but they were cashing in on some anniversary or other. To a certain extent the commercialism of it got to Ivy but, in truth, she simply loved the show, even if it bothered her what it represented.

"You look thoughtful," Tom commented, laying out the food.

She blinked up at him and sighed "I don't suppose you and Julia are thinking of writing anything new?"

"Well we've been brainstorming bits and pieces but we've got nothing close to a solid idea yet," Tom shrugged as he sat down "I mean, you know us, we never really stop _writing_ it's just the majority of it gets shelved." With another sigh, she turned back to look out the window. Tom rolled his eyes "You always get this way after a trip to Ohio, do you know that?"

Surprised, Ivy shook her head "No I've never really thought about it."

"Yeah, something about seeing Olivia, really sets you thinking," he smiled at her and sipped his coffee.

She nibbled at her food for a moment and then asked him "Do you think I'm a bad mother?"

"What? No!" Tom slammed his cutlery down in outrage "No, Ivy why would you say that? Why would you even think that?"

Awkwardly, she pushed her food around her plate "Because I'm here and she's there, because I chose my career over her, because-"

"Ivy," Tom laid his hand over hers, searching her eyes "You do everything you can to be there for Olivia, it's not like you've abandoned her, you never miss a birthday or Christmas or even her dance recitals. You always take her calls, you'd be down in Ohio in a second if you thought she needed you. You are a brilliant mother, just because you don't live in the same state as her doesn't change that. What you're suffering from is standard working-mother's guilt, my mother was terrible for it… the point is, if you were a man this wouldn't be a problem. Society would consider you an excellent father but because you're a woman… you're a great Mom, okay?"

Without warning there came an urgent knock on the door. Tom frowned and stood up. Strangely, Ivy missed the warmth of his hand on hers. Damn, she needed a boyfriend.

He opened the door and Karen came charging into the apartment with frightened eyes. It was odd, despite the fact that they shared friends and were often at the same events and parties and things, Ivy rarely saw Karen. And as Karen was a very private person, she was one of the few people in the Broadway community who Ivy knew very little about. Odd, since their lives had once been so heavily entangled. She seemed older than Ivy had ever seen her as she searched the apartment, panic in her eyes.

"Is Kyle here?" Karen asked, voice shaking.

Shock jolted Ivy back sixteen years. She'd never really known Kyle Bishop very well but she knew he'd meant a lot to Tom. The sadness of what had happened to that poor boy, still felt fresh when it was revisited this way. Funny how memories could strike like that. In moments the strange nostalgia gave way to confusion, Kyle was dead. Why would Karen be looking for him?

"Kyle? No, I haven't seen him in weeks," Tom replied, as though this was nothing new. Like they weren't discussing someone who'd been deceased for over a decade. He folded his arms and squinted at her "Why?"

Tugging at her hair, worriedly, Karen explained "He was at Jimmy's this weekend and they had a fight and stormed off to his room and then sometime between then and Meredith going to bed, he must have packed his bag and left because when they looked in on him, he was nowhere to be found. Of course Jimmy, being Jimmy, only saw fit to tell me this when he didn't come home from school today and even then it was because Meredith broke first."

"All right, Karen, we're gonna get you sat down with a cup of tea and we're gonna take a deep breath and work this out, go sit with Ivy," Tom said soothingly. He gently guided Karen to her seat and began making her a soothing tea.

With a small, awkward smile, Ivy asked "What's going on, Karen?"

"My son," Karen murmured, thumbing a tear away from under her eye "He's missing." Of course, Ivy thought, she'd stake her life on that kid being Jimmy's. It was obvious, they'd name their son after Kyle.

To be honest, Olivia probably would have ended up being called Kyle if she'd been a boy, they'd even briefly considered Kyla. That boy's death had a profound effect on Derek, especially once he was a father. Not that he ever talked about it. At least not to her.

Tom was always pretty level headed in this sort of crisis, possibly because he didn't often get emotionally invested in other people. That's not to say he didn't care, because he did! Tom cared a lot, it's just he was quite good at being objective in a crisis, the majority of the time. Sometimes he could still go crazy and breakdown, when certain things got too much but, broadly speaking, he was pretty good at sorting out everyone else's shit. So it was probably a testament to Karen's intuition that it had brought her here to Tom.

Ivy, quickly excused herself, seeing that she was probably going to be in the way and that Tom would probably have to see her show another night.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

On Tuesday, Olivia was slightly more on her game. They were running Willow, her duet with Mercedes, which allowed her to do some dancing. She began on a porch swing and then moved further downstage to do her complicated interpretive dance as the tempo of the music picked up. Since he planned to work on only this number in the rehearsal, Derek had dismissed the majority of the cast. Only the most eager of the lot remained, Rachel, Blaine, Kurt, Finn and Puck. Olivia dared to hope that the only real reason Puck had stayed was to watch her dance.

"Take five, Olivia, I'm going to work on Mercedes's side of the duet," Derek said, frowning slightly with concentration.

With a swift nod, Olvia hopped down from the stage and made her way to her seat between Puck and Kurt. Awkwardly, Puck said "You were really great up there."

"Thanks, I really enjoy the dance element, I haven't danced properly in awhile," she admitted. In truth, because her Dad was her dance teacher, she didn't get a lot of opportunities to perform as a dancer like kids in troupes or dance schools did. Not that she minded too much but it was nice to get the opportunity to work on a dance as part of a show

Glancing across at Kurt, Puck pulled Olivia aside "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Baffled, Olivia followed him a little away from the others "Sure."

"Look, I'm not some big romantic so I'm just gonna come out and say it. Do you wanna, maybe, go on a date… with me, like to dinner or to the movies or-"

Olivia cut him off "Dinner would be lovely, how's Friday, after rehearsal?"

"That's great, yeah," Puck grinned.

Suddenly and rather abruptly, the doors to the auditorium burst open. The kids in the audience all turned to look at Miss Pilsbury and the teenage boy with her. Derek, however, was too wrapped up in his work to take any notice until the boy shouted "Derek Wills!"

Irritated by the interruption, Derek turned "Can I help you?" The sight of him near stunned Derek, it would have stunned a man more easily phased into silence. The boy was the double of Jimmy Collins, younger, definitely younger but all the same the resemblance was uncanny. Though perhaps his hair was a little darker and curlier and his eyes are a little wider and browner. Karen's eyes. That thought alone is enough to knock the air out of him.

"Yeah," the boy grinned "I'm Kyle Collins and I wanna live with you." The bold and confident way the kid asserted this was somewhat jarring. Like this is no big deal! Like children just turn up and demand to be cared for all the time. Nevertheless, the ridiculousness of it was enough to catch Derek's attention.

Checking the clock, the director said "Well, we're only five minutes from the end of the day anyway, you kids can go while I deal with this kid, see you tomorrow."

Olivia watched her father leave. She was beyond curious and not being able to follow in case she blew her cover was its own special kind of infuriating. To distract herself, she moved over to stand on the stage with Kurt, Blaine and Mercedes. As she approached, she just caught Kurt saying "But his name _is_ Derek Wills?"

"What's going on?" Olivia asked, nervously pulling at her hair. She had a feeling that this conversation was not going to be fun.

Looking a little wary, Kurt said "It's nothing really."

"Oh grow up, Kurt, it's not some big secret," Mercedes rolled her eyes "These two think that Mr Wills is some big Broadway director or something."

Olivia didn't get chance to say anything because Blaine was adding "Look, the original director of Hit List was called Derek Wills and all of the photos from around that time look really like a younger version of Mr Wills."

"Yeah," Olivia managed to stammer out, her throat suddenly feeling tight and dry "And why would a big Broadway director be directing show choir in Ohio?"

Eagerly, Kurt said "Well that's the thing, Derek dropped off the radar like sixteen years ago, right after Hitlist, he just stops working and no-one knows why. Now he just writes a column for someone or other, no-one knows where he is or why he's not directing anymore." Olivia didn't know what to say. It was probably just as well that her phone buzzed at that moment, letting her know that her Dad wanted her at the car. She said as much and retreated from the auditorium.

By the time she got to the car, her head was buzzing and hopping into the front seat didn't help "What was that all about?"

"Kyle, meet my daughter, Olivia, you even so much as look at her the wrong way and I will not hesitate to beat the crap out of you," Derek said, gesturing to the backseat of the car, where the kid from before was sitting.

Grumpily, Kyle replied "I can't believe you're not letting me stay."

"Oh yes, I did feel like getting charged with kidnapping this week, you came just in the nick of time," Derek's voice dripped with sarcasm but he was smirking a little in his daughter's direction "I'm calling your father as soon as we get home."

As Derek started up the car, Kyle slouched back into his seat "Please don't call my Dad, call my Mom."

"Yeah and who is your Mum?" Derek sighed, only half-listening.

Shaking his head, the boy shrugged "She's an actress… Karen Cartwright?"


End file.
